US EditionInterstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Is About to Make Its Closest Approach to Earth. Here's How to View It With Binoculars or a Telescope
- On Friday, Dec. 19, 3I/ATLAS will make its closest approach to Earth at 06:02 UT, passing about 167 million miles away, offering a brief observation window.
- Earlier this year, astronomers first tracked 3I/ATLAS, which reached solar conjunction on October 21 and perihelion on October 29, prompting sustained monitoring as solar heating drives delayed sublimation.
- Gemini and other observatories captured spectral changes, revealing diatomic carbon's faint green glow in the coma, while ESA XMM-Newton and JAXA found an X-ray source stretched 400,000 kilometres; observers report an enduring sunward anti-tail and detected nickel but no iron.
- Too late to send a spacecraft now, a close rendezvous is impractical; interceptor mission concepts rely on early detection, and the Vera Rubin Observatory and its Legacy Survey of Space and Time should find at least 10 ISOs in the near future.
- Amid debate, Professor David Jewitt, UCLA, said `All these things are consistent with a comet nucleus of typical size or smaller, sublimating in sunlight and blowing out dust particles,' while Sergei Zamozdra, associate professor at Chelyabinsk State University, stated `In a couple of months, it will fly further away, and in six months, everyone will forget about it.
78 Articles
78 Articles
A mysterious space object known as 3i/ATLAS will make its closest approach to Earth tomorrow, as scientists dismiss claims it could be artificial or extraterrestrial in origin.
The 3I/ATLAS interstellar comet will reach its maximum approach to Earth in the early hours of this Friday, December 19. Although it will not pass close enough to pose a risk to our planet, astronomers have calculated the precise moment at which the comet reaches its minimum distance from us. According to the orbital calculations of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Horizons system, the time at which 3I/ATLAS will be closest to Earth will…
The 3I/ATLAS interstellar comet will reach its closest point to Earth in the early morning of this Friday, December 19, although it will pass at a completely safe distance for our planet. Its approach, however, has a huge scientific interest, since it is one of the few objects from another star system detected to date.According to the orbital calculations of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Horizons system, the exact moment of maximum pr…
The third confirmed visitor to other planetary systems will reach its closest point to our planet this morning. Its size, chemistry, dynamics and a series of unexpected anomalies arouse a unique interest
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 54% of the sources are Center
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
